VOLUME 15, NUMBER 26_THE COLDEST MONTH__FEBRUARY 17, 1987
Written comments still being accepted
Ordinance 44D hearings attract a good-sized audience
Proposed changes in the Tribes' hunting and fishing regulations earned the attention of over 200 people -- the approximate combined attendance at three public hearings held earlier this month to discuss Ordinance 44D.
A lot of the faces at the Feb. 4 meeting in St. Ignatius and the Feb. 9 meeting in Pablo belonged to non-members. A third meeting was held on Feb. 5 in Elmo and was conducted at
times in the Kootenai language.
Reaction from Tribal members to the proposed regulations seemed "tamer" than a year ago, when the ordinance itself was being proposed. Back then, a number of Indians protested the need for any regulation of hunting and fishing, which were rights guaranteed them by treaty, they said.
Tribal officials pointed out that those activities weren't individuals' rights so much as they were Tribal privileges. Unregulated use of the privileges could easily lead to abuse by an unscrupulous few, it was warned, which in turn could lead to federal intervention, as occurred on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming earlier in the decade.
In addition to self-regulation, the ordinance and the subsequent reg-
ulations were revised as "basic housekeeping", in the words of a Tribal attorney, to consolidate some 17 additions to the original law, Ordinance 44B.
The few Tribal members who made spoken comments at the Mission and Pablo meetings had somewhat specialized remarks. Lucille Otter, for example, asked that more beavers be put in the Liberty Meadows area so the fishing there could be improved. She'd also like to see the area off-limits to future trapping. She commented too about the introduction of non-native species to the Reservation environment such as raccoons and seagulls which is prohibited by Tribal law now.
Joe Finley asked whether or not « (Concludes on page tw
Timber workers needed for referral list
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